Monday, August 19, 2013

This Week: 8/19-25 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Commence

Recall that the 17th Amendment was not even a twinkle in Lincoln's eye. He was trying to get the legislature of Illinois to elect him as a United States Senator.

Thus, he had to debate Douglas, the incumbent.

Douglas was a little s^%# who-- at least on my reading (which isn't much)-- had no real convictions except to stay in the Senate. And I'm not a fan of Big Abe, either. For Senator, sure. But that whole habeus corpus thing... .

The debates do make an interesting read, though.

The Lincoln and Douglas Debates: In the Senatorial Campaign of 1858 in Illinois, between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Arnold Douglas; Containing also Lincoln's Address at Cooper Institute. Archibald Lewis Bouton, Introduction and Notes. Henry Holt and Company, New York. 1905.

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